US media urge upholding value of professional journalism on digital platforms

Eighteen American and international media associations, including the Association of Argentine Journalistic Entities (ADEPA) and the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA), requested this Tuesday by a public statement in the form of a request, to reach a “fair and reasonable” remuneration for the publication of journalistic content on digital platforms.

The statement was titled “Media Across America, We Call to Uphold the Value of Professional Journalism in the Digital Ecosystem” and was signed by 18 associations bringing together more than 40,000 media communications from Argentina, Canada, United States, Mexico, Honduras, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia and Chile.

The document points out that “The sustainability of journalism is in danger”.

Although “journalistic media have more audiences than ever before (…) the revenues which have funded professional journalism are absorbed by intermediaries who concentrate more than 80% of global digital advertising», Warns the solicited.

Regarding the positioning of digital platforms on the market, the associations propose “coherent approaches at the global level to make effective a right which is based both on intellectual property as in the antitrust rules”.

And they add that “it is essential that abusive market practices are avoided digital advertising ”.

The press release warns that the economic crisis, exacerbated by the pandemic, is create “information deserts” Following the shutdown of media in many communities, a figure that United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Gutiérrez defined as “Worrisome extinction of the media”.

The declaration values ​​the initiatives of Google and Facebook to compensate the media in certain countries for their content, even though it considers that “these programs is not yet the correct and complete answer demanded by industry ”, and declares that it is necessary to“ promote a healthy and balanced digital ecosystem”.

In addition to remuneration for content and advertising concentration, associations pay particular attention to the issue of algorithms, of which opacity and discretion affect production and dissemination of content.

During working meetings, the associations agreed to ask digital platforms to speed up their content remuneration and media support programs. They ask that these programs be more inclusivewhich benefit both large publications and those which cover small communities and which must remain integrated into democratic life.

The signatory organizations of the request that It is published in Clarin and in other major media on the continent include the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA), the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), the Ibero-American Telecommunications Organization (OTI), the Grupo de Diarios América (GDA), the International Broadcasting Association (AIR), Canadian News Media (NMC, Canada), News Media Alliance (NMA, United States), MediaMx Alliance (Mexico), Honduran Media Association (AMC, Honduras).

It is also signed by the Jamaican Media Association (MAJ, Jamaica), the Dominican Society of Newspapers (SDD, Dominican Republic), the News Media Association (AMI, Colombia), the Ecuadorian Association of Publishers of newspapers (AEDEP, Ecuador), Peruvian Press Council (CPP, Peru), National Association of Newspapers (ANJ, Brazil), National Press Association (ANP, Bolivia), National Press Association (ANP, Chile) and Association of Argentine Journalistic Entities (ADEPA).

The complete file

The signatory entities, representing the media of the three Americas, urge supranational organizations and countries in the region to put on the agenda and prioritize the vital issue of the value of journalistic content on digital platforms, ensuring the conditions of a fair and reasonable compensation by the latter.

After years of research into the dominance of global technology companies in the communications market, Australia released a code for dealing with digital media and platforms on February 25. This provides for compulsory arbitration mechanisms to ensure that the said platforms – as essential installations or “gateways” to the Internet – remunerate the media for the use they make of their content and from which they derive strong direct and indirect benefits.

With the support of European media associations, the Commission and the Parliament of the European Union are discussing a digital markets law (“digital markets law”) to prevent large digital platforms from abusing their power to Marlet. In the United States, the News Media Alliance, representing nearly 2,000 media outlets, manages an authorization from that country’s Congress to negotiate directly with the platforms.

These initiatives stem from the enormous changes that have taken place over the past two decades in access to information. Journalistic media have more audiences than ever, but the revenues that funded professional journalism are absorbed by middlemen who account for over 80% of global digital advertising. Our content, valued by the public, is essential for informing society and vital for the health of democracy, but the sustainability of journalism is threatened. So-called “information deserts” (areas without local media) are reproduced in small communities and spread to larger and larger regions.

The path for this asymmetry to begin to balance itself – without there being actors who profit from it to the detriment of others – has been going on for several years. The European Union was a pioneer, whose Parliament approved in 2019 the directive which obliges platforms to compensate for the use of “intellectual rights” of journalistic editors. France, the Netherlands, Italy, Hungary and Germany have already adapted their national laws to oblige digital platforms to negotiate within a reasonable timeframe.

However, in all countries, efforts to make this right effective run up against delays and differences in negotiating power between the parties, which delay agreements and remove their proportionality. In some cases, this behavior has already resulted in heavy fines from the authorities.

Members of the newspaper industry believe that There must be globally consistent approaches to enforcing a law based on both intellectual property and antitrust regulations.

Also it is essential to avoid abusive practices in the digital advertising market, where the platforms are both arbitrators and main players. And that when such practices occur, they are investigated and sanctioned to avoid a greater focus on income and the use of personal data. Besides, Great attention must be paid to the question of algorithms, which determine the distribution of content and its arrival in society.

The renewed Windhoek + 30 declaration, promoted by UNESCO, expresses its concern at “the serious economic crisis which represents an existential threat to the media …” and recalls that “economic sustainability” is “an essential prerequisite for their independence “. He calls on governments to “guarantee (…) the flow of funding from public sources to the media”. And he asks digital companies to support him in various ways; for example, through “inclusive partnership” agreements and “financial measures”.

Recent initiatives by companies like Google and Facebook to pay media outlets in certain countries for content licenses are valuable. But we believe that these programs are not yet the fair and comprehensive response the industry needs. to compensate for distortions and restore a certain balance in the ecosystem. Compensation should not be a unilateral decision of the platforms, but the agreed fruit of a universal, pre-existing and proportionate right for publishers.

There is a need for countries, organizations, media and platforms to take action in this regard. As stated in the IAPA Salta Declaration (2018), “actors in the digital ecosystem must strike an appropriate balance between freedom of expression, copyright and intellectual property, as well as regarding the benefits that content can generate in said ecosystem. . . . They must also avoid abusive practices likely to affect competition, innovation and the free flow of information ”. Similar concepts have been expressed by the International Association of Broadcasting (AIR) and by media entities in countries in the region.

We must promote a healthy and balanced digital ecosystem, in which the opacity of algorithms does not end up deciding what information is relevant to a person or a company, and in which disinformation can be combated with professional and quality journalism. For this, sustainable means are necessary, which receive the value they generate for the benefit of the community.

DS